Bahrain: Political Prisoners suffer appalling conditions in Jaw Central Prison

Bahrain: Hundreds of prisoners suffering from appalling conditions in Jaw Central Prison
Overcrowding, harsh punishments, and deprivation of contact with the outside world or complain
05 Nov 2011 – BCHR

Bahrain Centre for human rights (BCHR) is following up with great concern the deterioration of the situation of prisoners detained in the Jaw Central Prison of Bahrain, including being subjected to mistreatment and arbitrary punishments, especially solitary confinement which are sometimes associated with physical abuse. Moreover, this includes the General poor conditions caused by overcrowding the prison of large numbers of convicts that exceed its capacity, where 17 prisoners being crammed in one cell that could not accommodate more than four beds (with 2-floors). Those prisoners are being kept in the cell for at least twenty hours a day where they have only one health facility for shower, toilet and washing, and the room itself is being used to eat, sleep, rest and worship.

One cell is gathering different ages, where a large number of prisoners held on security and political issues are adolescents and young people who are rounded up with people convicted in criminal cases of various nationalities and some with criminal records. Prisoners find considerable difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number of Quran, religious books associated with worship daily, and the biggest difficulty is the ability of getting any cultural or general books. Although daily newspapers provided by the prison administration are only those which support the Government’s policies, these newspapers are subject to censorship, and often are blocked because they contain news or information about the situation outside the prison.

Add to all that the complete denial of access to daily news through television channels. Despite the availability of televisions in the places that prisoners go to for few hours a day, but it display movies only to make the prisoners in almost total blackout from what’s happening in the country or abroad. Since there is tight control to communicate with families and that is once a week for half an hour, as well as family visit with a very limited number of them twice a month, the prisoner cannot convey their suffering in prison via communication with family, and if so, it is liable to penalties of imprisonment in solitary confinement, mistreatment and sometimes physically abused.

Beginning of mistreatment starts since the first reception of the prisoner where they are humiliated, offended and threatened. However, the Proper or bad treatment later depends on those in charge of the Prisoners Affairs Department where many of them seem to be part of political or sectarian mobilization, especially against prisoners with cases of political background. The prison lacks an effective inspection system to detect the abuses carried out by those or by the prison administration. Prisoners also do not have the opportunity to speak to the top freely and safely, thereby reducing their ability to fully improve conditions or protesting mistreatment. Indeed, the only tool left for prisoners to improve their situation is the hunger strike where any prisoner on hunger strike is being treated so cruelly exposing any paddle to solitary confinement and mistreatment and sometimes being beaten as a warning to other prisoners, as was the case July 2010 when the prison used the riot police to stop the prisoners on hunger strike by attacking and injuring them [1].

Prisoners are subjected to degrading treatment each time they are taken outside the prison or to meet their relatives as well as upon return. Where they are forced to take off all their clothes and wearing wrapper only, then sit in a certain way on the grounds that such a procedure to “prevent the smuggling of narcotic substances” as they claim, while that in itself is reason enough for separating prisoners according to their quality and nature of the charges against them. …more